Something is happening that I believe could be the death of the Bureau QSL card. For security reasons all parcels sent around the world will soon have to have “Pre-Advice Data”
What this means is that I need to send in advance, electronically, personal data of the recipient and the contents of the parcel to customs.
I will need the IARU Bureau email address, name of the person I am sending to, telephone number, as well as the usual customs declaration.
This electronic data will need a “Commodity code” for the items inside the parcel. QSL cards are as near as we can get it “postcards” which is commodity code 49090000.
This is where we have a problem, this is telling customs that the postcards in the box are a commodity and are likely to be charged VAT standard rate to other European Union Countries (Isn’t the EU supposed to be there to help EU citizens?) The only good news is that outside EU is 0% tax.
But I see nothing that can tell the recipients customs or douane that these postcards are a gift of “no value”
This will be starting in January 2019 and in some countries like Brazil it has already started. I am trying to get my head around this, looks really complicated and as far as I can see IARU Bureaus are not ready for it. I have asked my mail carrier for advice, so if I find out more on this I will report back soon.
3rd June – As of this time i am working with my account manager to ensure that our bureau dispatches will meet the new “Pre-advice data” requirements, however this does depend on cooperation from the IARU Bureaus to ensure that we have the data we need.
